Heaven & Earth
by arun2110
Summary: When the truth about Ranma's ancestry is revealed, forces are set in motion and a prize is put on him and his family as part of a petty political maneuver. But the assassination is bungled and his enemies would rue the day forever.
1. Prologue 1

Heaven and Earth

Arun

Prologue - revised version # 2

Completed on 04/14/2002

xxxxx

The trees were a blur. Specks of green, yellow and brown rushed by in the blink of an eye, interrupted by bright patches of fading sunlight in between.

Truly, the sunset at the Bayankala Mountains was of breathtaking beauty, but Xian Pu did not have the time, or the frame of mind to enjoy it. She was fleeing for her life. Her hunter, as yet, unseen, was hot at her heels in pursuit.

Her breath came in ragged gasps, sweat pouring from every pore of her body. Her eyes were wide and dilated, and her face splattered with little droplets of blood, contorted with fear and apprehension. Her blood flowed freely from gashes on her hands, legs and torso, but the wounds did not even register in her mind.

She glanced back once in a while, trying to catch a glimpse of him, or was it her, and failed yet again, which only made the fear in the pits of her stomach gain in strength.

As she ran, the green leaves in the trees and the brown, dry ones on the ground rustled on their own accord once in a while, breaking the silence of early evening in the forest around her. The sound of her monotonous breaths was regularly interrupted with cracks as wood splintered under the hunter's feet. Those sounds were the only clues she'd had to her pursuer so far. Her team's killer remained silent at all other times, making her think that the errant footsteps were a game on his, or her part, meant to increase her fear and drive her to the edge, which it did.

Colliding against yet another branch, which tore her already ragged and dirty clothes to an even greater extent, Xian Pu looked back, once more, to catch a glimpse of her pursuer. And like so many times before, she caught none, but this time there was a snicker to her left, which brought her up short.

"Who is it?" Xian Pu asked coming to a standing halt, ready to flee, or fight at a moment's notice. Her grip on her sword tightened considerably, her eyes darting about the trees and her breath coming in quick, shallow gasps.

A distorted voice, barely recognizable as human, replied.

"Hahahaha! How does it feel to be the hunted, Xian Pu? I bet that all of your prey has felt the same way you feel right now!"

The voice was male and Xian Pu could not help, but feel that she had heard it somewhere before.

"Who... Who are you?" she panted, fear gripping her heart tighter in its vise-like grip.

"I'm vengeance reborn, I am death incarnate..."

Bam! A tree to her left exploded at its base, sending sharp pieces of wood and bark into the air in a brilliant shower of white.

"Do..."

Bam! Another tree, this time directly behind her, fell.

"You..."

Bam!

"Remember..."

Bam!

"Me..."

Bam!

"Xian Pu..."

Bam!

"Of..."

Bam!

"The..."

Bam!

"Joketsuzoku..."

Bam!

"Amazons?" the voice said, dripping with utter contempt.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Every tree within a thirty yard radius of Xian Pu was destroyed now. She, herself, was on her back, a painfully sharp looking strip of raw wood sticking out of her leg, just above her knee. She crawled away from the voice, rivulets of blood flowing from a cut to her upper lip, where an errant chip of wood had struck and from the gash in her thigh. She knew that voice and once, she knew the man behind it. No wonder all fifteen members of her patrol had fallen so easily.

"Ranma..." she whispered, respect and overwhelming fear in her voice.

The air directly in front of her shimmered and Ranma appeared, looking nothing like the eighteen-year old, carefree teenager of three years back. His red silk shirt had been replaced by a jet black one in those three years, for better stealth and his shoulders had broadened so that he was now, a true man among men in the looks department. His facial features had become more clear cut and his eyes were full of loathing, murderous intent, so unlike the caring, compassionate ones she once knew. The pigtail was gone too, replaced by a shoulder length mane of black hair, which flowed without hindrance from his head to rest on his shoulders. He had a brace of wood from a very rare and very sought after species of tree, which was particularly useful in storing and focusing ki blasts on both his hands. An errant beam of light from the setting sun fell on his right hand as the trees rustled gently in an unfelt wind and reflected off a metal brace, which rested just under the wooden one. The metal was white, highly polished and highly reflective in the shape of a dragon of ages long gone. Ranma moved his hand unconsciously and a stray beam of light fell on her eye, blinding her just a little.

"Glad to see you remember me," he spat, contemptuously. "Do you like my new look?

Xian Pu did not reply, retreating even further from him. If the brutality with which her patrol had been 'dealt with' was any measure of the things to come, then she was in for a world of pain followed by a merciless death separated from her family and friends. He purposely let her live through the slaughter of her companions in the squad.

Ranma took a step forward, a small, dark smile on his lips and Xian Pu cringed, prompting a derisive snort from him.

"Really, Xian Pu, for all the purported virtues that an Amazon has, you and yours lack a lot of them," he said, halting his advance and staring into her face. "I let you live through that," he pointed the thumb of his left hand behind him towards where the remains of her patrol were scattered over a half mile area, "'cause I have something in mind for you..."

Xian Pu gulped.

Ranma snorted, again.

"Relax, will ya," he said, reverting back to his old form of speech. "I'm not going to kill you... yet... Tell the Matriarch, your grandmother, that Ranma of the Hokage walks on this Earth once more and that his heart craves the blood of those who destroyed his life. Tell her that for the crimes that the Amazons and theirs committed against the Clan Hokage, the School Matsubetsu Kakuto Ryuu and its practitioners, the life of all Amazons, both male and female, are forfeit. Tell her, there is no place on Earth where she can hide from me. Tell her I'm coming for her," he said and vanished, leaving the startled, scared out of her wits Amazon alone, breathing a little more freely than before, now that the danger was gone, to ponder the latest developments and what they meant for the tribe's future survival.

Seconds ticked by and Xian Pu remained as she was, her eyes staring at the space where Ranma had stood as her breathing slowly returned to normal. Finally, sure that the danger was long gone, she stood up painfully on her legs, balancing herself on her sword. Just as she took her first step towards the village, Ranma's voice echoed through the clearing, again.

"One more thing," it said. "Die!"

Silence.

_It was always a ruse! He was going to kill me all along,_ Shampoo thought, hopelessly eyeing the sprawling expanse of the forest before her, intent on catching a glimpse of his face one last time. She was not going to beg forgiveness, for such was not the way of her people, but she would be able to see the only man she had ever loved one more time.

A huge ball of ki, slightly larger in size than a Volkswagen, formed in the air ahead of her and exploded outwards, in a searing hot pulse of energy that destroyed everything for hundreds of yards around. The heat was so intense that it literally boiled the flesh off her body.

The thunderous boom and the blinding light faded as soon as they had started, revealing a thirty yard wide crater at the epicenter of the blast. The air at the very center of the crater shimmered once and Ranma reappeared.

"One down, Akane!" he said aloud. Still, as loud as he was, his words were lost amidst the roar of the inferno created by his attack and fed by the wood in the destroyed section of the forest.

xxxxx

Author's Notes:

I started work on Heaven and Earth a long, long time back. Not before Destiny, mind, but almost a decade back. I abandoned Destiny I lost interest in writing for a while, but was struck in writer's block hell with Heaven and Earth for a long time. I think I've overcome it, which is why I'm posting this story.

A big thank you to my pre-reading team from yesteryears. They were certainly the best there ever was. ^_^

jakub, Kaz, Madcat, Brain, James Merritt, Philip Penty, Zero, Alexander Cheezem, Getzeye, Lance Smith, Peter Blundell, Malikite


	2. Prologue 2

Heaven and Earth

Arun

Prologue 2: The Shape of Things to Come

[Ranma-Flame of Recca Crossover]

The star-studded sky was bright and the forest vibrant. The air was fresh and the gentle breeze soothing to the soul. The grass was wet with dew and the trees full of life.

He stood, his feet bare and legs set wide apart in the middle of the forest. His black pants flapped in the wind. It contrasted against the paleness of his naked torso. His eyes gazed intently at the stars in the moonless sky. He wiggled his toes in the cool, wet grass and reveled in the perfection of the moment.

Presently, he heard her whisper. He strained his ears and summoned the mind of no mind. He closed the door on the world at large and focused on her voice. She sounded weary and full of pain. Her cries struck a chord in his soul.

He took the first hesitant step against the wind. The breeze became a howling tempest. He strained against the storm. He battled the furious winds to reach her. Like a seething serpent raring to strike, his aura exploded around him as the struggle reached the crucial point. Wind and serpent fought for supremacy, and serpent won. The storm died, not that the victory registered in his mind. He was unmindful of all but her voice.

He strode, his strides eating untold leagues. Throughout his trek, he remained oblivious of the shroud of ki that guarded him. Night turned to day and day to night and he walked. Forest turned to desert and desert to mountains, canyons, valleys and forests, and still he walked. Summer turned to autumn and autumn to winter, spring and summer again, and yet, he walked. Always toward her voice, he walked.

Then, just like that, her voice was no longer a whisper. It was a heart-wrenching, pain-filled cry for help. Her whimpers broke his stupor. He looked around and found himself at the edge of a forest of dead trees. The land was barren as far as his eye could see and the air was filled with a deathly silence but for her cries. A sense of foreboding filled his heart, but the pain in her voice could not be denied. He stepped into the dead forest.

Navigating through thick growths of dead thorn, he strode deeper into the forbidding wood. The trunks grew thicker and dirt turned to lifeless bleached sand. The air turned lifeless and drier than dry. His parched throat ached for water, and his lips cracked and bled. A weight settled on his soul, and his steps grew heavy and wearied.

When he broke into the clearing, at last, the transition was so abrupt he faltered. He caught sight of her, crucified on the biggest dead tree he had yet seen in the middle of that clearing. The blood from her wounds was fire and it scorched the ground where it fell. Her hair was crimson red and she was naked as the day she was born.

He stepped toward her. She looked up. Their eyes met. A predatory smile lit her face. And he knew without doubt that she was the predator and he the prey.

"Mine," she said, throatily as she burst into flames so hot he felt the heat in his bones. In excruciating agony, he his skin peel and his flesh burn, and he woke up screaming.

"A nightmare," Ranma gasped, his bedding drenched in sweat, "it was a freaking nightmare."

He wiped his face and rose out of bed. He needed a glass of water badly. He made his way downstairs, where he fetched water from the tap and drank his fill. By then, his nerves had calmed and his heartbeat more or less normal. He tried to recollect the nightmare, but the patches he could recall struck terror in his mind.

"Kami, Saotome, pull yourself together. It was just a freaking nightmare. The most realistic and frightening nightmare you've ever had, but still, just a nightmare... God, the look in her eyes..." he muttered, trailing off as he slid into bed. Nightmare or not, nothing ever came between a Saotome and his sleep and Ranma fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Little did he know that the nightmare was the shape of things to come and that nothing would ever be the same again.

Author's notes:

Many thanks to John Campbell for his help. I know I didn't make all the changes you'd suggested and I'm not sure whether I used the same voice throughout but I cannot help the latter seeing as how I slept through most of my grammar classes and know zilch about grammar. ^_^;;


	3. Chapter 1

Heaven and Earth

Arun

Chapter 1

The postman was a bit early today. Sure enough, the mail he delivered had the regular bills and spam, but there was something else as well. A thick envelope marked on the lower left corner with the sign of the matriarch's clan. This was strange as mail from the village was usually delivered by birds specially bred for the purpose or if the message was secret or urgent, by messenger. Even stranger was the fact that the mail had been posted from a village on the coast in Japan. Experience on numerous battlefields told the matriarch that strange and unexpected equaled trouble with a capital T.

So it was with trepidation that Cologne, matriarch of the Joketsu Amazons tore open the envelope. She recognized the handwriting of the sender as that of Soap, the second ranking member of the clan after the matriarch herself and sure enough, the tidings it bore were of disaster for the clan lurking just around the corner. The letter read:

'Dear Cologne,

Hope this letter finds you in good health and cheer. Sadly, the clan is not doing so well these days. Your prolonged absence from the village has been remarked upon quite often of late and there are whispered rumors as to why young Shampoo has failed to return with her groom so far. The rumors are of course being spread by Masu's camp, but more and more, our own supporters look at me for askance.

Masu's hold over the other clans increases daily. Recently, after yet another border scrape with the PLA where we were unlucky for once and lost three dead and four grievously wounded, she called upon the Han province Party leader for talks. To the surprise of all, she managed to reach a compromise with the man that was palatable to most of the clans. Her diplomatic showing has vastly increased her political clout and where before she was satisfied with a few table scraps before, she wants the whole spread now.

It would interest you to know that Masu's people now control one-half of the governing council and our clan's representatives on the council has been reduced to one-third of the seats. Elders Go-yong and Deng lost their seats in the last vote and Masu's camp took theirs. Since then, our people in various positions of responsibility in the running of our nation have been systematically stripped of all responsibility even as Masu awarded the posts to her sycophants. This is but one area where her people are ousting ours from power. There are many other.

I do wish for your sage words of wisdom, because our clan's powerbase is eroding right before my eyes. Or at least bring us news of a great doing that would improve our clan morale and give me something to comfort our supporters with. It was too bad that Shampoo did not visit the village with her groom in tow soon after his joust with the phoenix king. I suspect it would have blunted much of Masu's newfound power and influence, but she did not and now, our position grows direr by the day. I fear that Masu will raise a formal complaint in council about your continued absence before the end of the year and I needn't tell you what the consequences of a ruling against you will mean for the clan and our future. She has observers watching our clan members even now and the courier service was one of the first her people infiltrated, which is why I'm smuggling this letter to you through other means. It hasn't spilled into outright violence so far, but I'm afraid that such a state of affairs won't last. The danger here is very real for all of us.

Yours,

Soap'

Cologne carefully folded the paper and locked it away in her safe. Soap was correct in her assertion that the danger was real for all of them. She was reminded of an old western saw by the conduct of power struggles among Amazons. 'For Romans in Rome's quarrel spared neither land nor gold, nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, in the brave days of old,' the saw went and so it was with her people. If Masu wrested the title of the matriarch and deposed of Cologne, things would go badly not only for the incumbent and the designated heir, but for the clan as a whole.

In hindsight, it was clear that she had made a bad judgment call when she left the Joketsu nation to help Shampoo in Nippon. But she hadn't expected to find such natural talent in Ranma and she'd been drawn towards training and guiding that potential like a moth to flame. She considered the insanity around the boy a plus for it brought wanted excitement in her waning years. Looking back, she could see how Masu could use the techniques she'd taught the young Saotome as proof of her treason in the halls of the council. With Masu's star on the rise and without Ranma by Shampoo's side, Colonge could see how badly such a session would go for herself and the clan.

The problem was Ranma. His stubbornness was as great as his skill and talent – which with proper application and guidance could grow to eclipse Cologne's own and she was a prodigy among the Joketsu – and the boy was very much in love with Tendo Akane deny it though he did. He was a willful, selfish, immature little boy on the brink of manhood with the sense of immortality and invincibility that went with that age, and indecisive outside of battle.

Given a few years, Cologne was certain that he and his wife – and Ranma would marry Akane, she had no doubts on that front after the Saffron affair – could be brought around to seeing things her way. This was the major reason why she'd stayed in Japan for so long. Shampoo with the drive for action so strong in the young did not have the patience to wait that long. She needed Cologne's guidance so that Ranma and Akane would agree to have Ranma father a child with Shampoo or even take her as a mistress. But she needed time for that and it seemed time had run out.

xxxxx

Thrown into the air by Genma's kick, Ranma twisted midair and extending his hands, did a cartwheel on the edge of the koi pond, narrowly avoiding the icy cold waters within. He pirouetted to landon his feet and with ease, regained his center of gravity. Then with a powerful push of his leg muscles aided considerably by ki, he shot forward at an impressive speed to close with his father and continue their morning spar.

Genma's attention wasn't on his son, however and Ranma veered off at the last second, narrowly avoiding giving the older Saotome a set of broken ribs.

"What the matter, old man? You losing your mind in old age?" Ranma asked, his lands casually by his side.

Genma took his eyes of the smoke and scorched marks where Ranma's hands had met the moss covered granite stone and turned to face his son. Flames still licked around the boy's hands and consumed his trousers and vest while he remained blissfully unaware of it. Genma opened his mouth and closed it as words failed him. This was a thing straight out of legend. Discounting those short lived rumors of two flame masters a couple of years back that Genma had never gotten around to investigate, there hadn't been a flame master in centuries.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted, rushing out of the house carrying a pail of water to quench the flames.

Naturally, Ranma's trousers chose that moment to fail.

xxxxx

Later, as Ranma nursed the fresh imprint of his fiance's hand on his cheeks, the Saotome and Tendo families sat gathered around the table.

"You know what this means, Tendo?" Genma asked his friend.

Soun nodded. He hadn't seen the flame himself, but he'd seen the charred stone ton which Ranma had done a handstand. He'd also heard Akane's angry narration of how she came to stand staring at her fiance's waist with his dropped pants gathered around his ankles.

"That Ranma's a flame master?" the Tendo patriarch asked, tentatively. His mind had gone for a toss with the morning's revelation. The Tendo and Saotome families had always known they were related to the long vanished Hokage ninja clan. But they'd believed both their families were retainers rather than the main house. Apparently, they were wrong in the case of the Saotomes.

Genma nodded enthusiastically.

"It's a miracle, is what I'd say it is," he said.

"Undoubtedly, Saotome," Soun agreed, "But I always thought the gift emerged when you were a baby or it did not emerge at all."

"Yes, Tendo, but it seems the old legends are mistaken in that regard, because I can tell you Ranma's never demonstrated it before."

"Argh! Could you two let us in on the big news as well?" Ranma shouted. "I'd like to know what's going on as whatever this is, it's happening to me."

"Yes, Uncle Saotome. What's going on? Do tell," quipped Nabiki, sardonically. She'd already texted to her regular customers a new Saotome special on sale for just 5000 yen.

"Fine, I'll tell the story," Soun said and took a deep breath.

Everyone but Genma leaned forward.

"Hundreds of years ago, during the time of the Warring States, there lived a clan of ninja called the Hokage. This clan was unique in the annals of ninja history because where others perfected the physical arts, the Hokage perfected the supernatural arts. They created weapons and lore that can't be recreated even with today's technology. This wasn't the only thing that made them unique, however. The leaders of the Hokage were men and women who could wield flames."

"Wield flames as in like what Ranma was doing today?" Akane asked.

"Yes."

"So you're saying Ranma's descended from that clan?" Akane asked.

"Not just Ranma. The Saotome clan trace their lineage back to the Hokage as does ours."

"And here I always thought that we're all descended from samurai families."

"There's no doubt that samurai blood flowing through our veins, but that is true of practically all families in Japan. The Warring States period was such that most families took up the sword at some point or the other. But we're also descended from the Hokage," Soun explained.

"And both our families have always been proud of our Hokage heritage, though we'd always thought we were retainers of the eponymous family and not the sons of the main family itself," Genma appended.

"Ah," Kasumi nodded, pushing a cup of tea to Ranma. Strangeness followed Ranma so much that nowadays, she wasn't even surprised by the next impossible thing to show up on her doorstep.

"So what does it mean to be a flame wielder?" Ranma asked.

"The correct term is Flame Master, Ranma and we don't know. The text is all lost. But one thing is certain. You have to learn to control the flame and that means training."

Ranma pumped his right arm into the air.

"All right!"

"I don't know how to train you to control the flame, however. You know what that means, don't you?" Genma asked.

"Pain?" Ranma hazarded a guess.

"Yes, the path of a martial artist is fraught with peril."

"Oh, man!"

"Uncle Saotome, what happened to the Hokage?" Nabiki asked.

"Oda Nobunaga happened," Soun replied with feeling. "Legend has it he was afraid of the Hokage clan's power and so he gathered allies and put an end to them. Frankly, so far as we know, our two families are the only survivors of the massacre."

"How did that happen?" the middle Tendo asked, sardonically. "I mean, if Nobunaga was as thorough as you portray, how did he spare our two families?"

"Our ancestors dishonorably ran and hid while the others fought and died. Or perhaps, our ancestors were truer to nindo than the rest of the clan," Soun explained with a wan smile.

Genma looked around the table and slapped his thighs.

"It's settled then. Ranma and I will leave for a training tomorrow morning."

xxxxx

Unknown to the Tendo's and the Saotomes, Shampoo who'd been listening in on the discussion by the window silently slipped away. She had to inform her great grandmother and get ready to follow Ranma on his training mission. There she'd make him see the worth of a Joketsu wife.

Sadly, that wasn't how things were to turn out.

xxxxx

"Yes, Great Grandmother. I overheard with very clearly. Ranma is descended from a ninja clan called the Hokage and he can wield flames with his hands," Shampoo explained happily. Oh, she was lucky. Not only was her husband talented in the martial arts, but he was also a mythological warrior who could control fire. Their children were going to be the talk of the village.

"This changes things," Cologne said. She remembered the Hokage from her clan's lore. They were sworn enemies of the Joketsu and god forbid if Masu learned Shampoo was consorting with their clan leader. "I'll need proof of son-in-law's gift, girl. Can you get that charred stone you spoke of?"

Shampoo nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, go and get it. I've got a call to make."

"Okay, Great Grandmother."

Cologne watched the girl skip out of the house and sighed. It was sad because the young girl was very much in love with Ranma. But this affair had grown larger than affairs of the heart. The survival of Cologne's clan stood in the balance, but Shampoo may just have supplied her with a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Too bad for the Tendos and the Saotomes, though. The Joketsu had a long memory and they neither forgave nor forgot.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Is that ending foreboding enough? Keep reading!


End file.
